


After Dark

by Twyd



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cute, Denial of Feelings, Enemies, Fights, Flirting, Fluff, Injury, M/M, Pining, Slash, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Yakuza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:28:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21549115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twyd/pseuds/Twyd
Summary: Strip Club AU, featuring Aerial Dancer!Izaya and Barman!Shizuo, who hate each other.
Relationships: Heiwajima Shizuo/Orihara Izaya
Comments: 6
Kudos: 157





	After Dark

The first time Shizuo had seen Izaya, he had almost spilled the beer he was pouring all over himself. The other dancers and performers messed around on poles or on the tables, but Izaya was of a different world. The lights would be dimmed and the electric guitars would turn strange. Silk ropes dangled from the club ceiling, from which he would climb, contort himself, stretch and flex himself and, as the finale, spin himself into a blur from the ceiling down to the floor. 

Men, even the more reserved ones, would howl with applause. Whoever’s beer Shizuo had spilled had not noticed, he was too entranced with what was happening on stage. The audience would throw money, flowers, business cards, their watches wrapped in a handkerchief or their tie. And Izaya would bow and smirk like he found the whole thing terribly funny.

And even with the bar was mostly in darkness, Shizuo would feel like Izaya was looking him in the eye when he flipped himself upside down or opened his legs, and Shizuo would tremble and scowl and look away, just in case Izaya really could see him.

-

A Yakuza crowd are in tonight. This is new. Shizuo watches them dubiously, but they do not seem to want any trouble. They also do not seem interested in the men on stage. Shizuo assumes they are here to collect protection money rather than out of any particular preferences or desires.

A rowdy crowd is also in tonight, but they have nothing to do with the Yakuza. Shizuo keeps a wary eye on them. He needs to control people like that, but he also needs to watch himself and his temper. He can’t afford to lose another job.

The Yakuza keep glancing pointedly at the rowdy ones, who have been jeering at some of the dancers.

“Can you not control your customers?” Shizuo hears one of them ask the owner. He does not catch his boss’ reply.

The lights and the music change then. Izaya is coming.

Even though he’s seen the show hundreds of times, Shizuo still experiences a little shiver of anticipation. He replaces the glass he’s holding carefully, to not disturb the silence, and leans forward on the bar. No-one buys a drink when Izaya is on stage.

Shizuo glances at the Yakuza table, and sees his boss is smiling, looking proud of himself. He seems to be persuading the Yakuza to watch the act, the act that brought in the most punters and therefore the most money. The Yakuza looks skeptical, bored.

Izaya enters the stage as if he owned the room. He is wearing maroon pants the colour of his eyes, and nothing else. He somesaults easily, lazily on the ropes as if for his own amusement. Shizuo watches as the act slowly builds up, as Izaya's flips and stunts become more daring. The Yakuza sit very still watching him.

One of the drunken, rowdy crowd shouts something then. Shizuo wonders if Izaya can hear him, if it will put him off. Men normally stared at him in stupefied lust when he performed. Shizuo watches the crowd instead of Izaya, tense. He feels as though something terrible may happen and he is powerless to stop it.

The show is almost finished. Izaya is at the very top of the twisted ropes, the big finale, when he lets himself spin at breakneck speed. The drunken man starts to yell something else, encouraged by his friends, but he is dinned by the music and not everybody hears. Shizuo starts to head over, but he is too late. The man pulls a gun out of his pocket and begins to fire randomly at the stage.

Izaya falls too quickly for Shizuo to see it, but he hears it, the awful sound he makes when he hits the floor. By then Shizuo sees red and he is on the man, hitting him, all but ready to destroy him. He is vaguely aware of the Yakuza surrounding the man's companions and dragging them out.

A hand falls on Shizuo’s shoulder then.

“That’s enough. We’ll take care of him.”

Shizuo steps back, panting. He looks at the stage. Izaya is lying where he fell, unmoving. At least there was no blood. It looked as though the man's bullets had hit the rope system rather than Izaya himself.

Shizuo’s boss is dithering next to him, looking terrified. Most of the other customers had bolted, but some are hovering by the stage, looking concerned. They look at Shizuo’s boss questioningly.

The Yakuza who had put his hand on Shizuo’s shoulder also turns to him.

“Have you called an ambulance?”

“An ambulance?” he says fumblingly. “We don’t want any trouble…”

The Yakuza pushes him aside in disgust. He hoists himself on to the stage and feels Izaya’s pulse. He calls an order to one of his men, who starts to make a phone call. 

Shizuo approaches the stage, staring at Izaya.

“...is he all right?”

“He’s breathing,” the Yakuza says shortly. He looks up then and notices the small crowd still circling the stage. “Can we give him some privacy, please?”

The scuttle away. The Yakuza meets Shizuo’s eye, and Shizuo realises with dismay that this means him too. As he leaves he notices a young man wearing glasses, who looked as though he could be a doctor, hurrying towards the stage.

Shizuo and his boss wait round the back.

His boss is mumbling and wringing his hands.

“I just don’t want any trouble,” he keeps saying. “I’m getting too old. I just want a quiet life.”

The sound of Izaya hitting the hard stage floor keeps replaying in Shizuo’s head. 

“Has anyone ever fallen from those ropes before?”

“No-one’s ever done them before,” the man sighs. “It was Izaya’s idea from the start.”

The Yakuza joins them. He is alone.

“How is he?” Shizuo blurts.

Shiki gives him a considering look.

“He’ll be OK,” he says.

“How long do you think he’ll be off his feet?” Shizuo’s boss asks.

Apparently ignoring this, the Yakuza turns to Shizuo with a tight smile.

“Please would you excuse us for a moment?”

Shizuo exchanges a glance with his boss. He doesn’t exactly like the man, but he wasn’t prepared to leave him at a Yakuza’s mercy either.

“Just for a chat,” the Yakuza add placatingly.

“It’s fine,” his boss says. His voice squeaks a little.

Shizuo shrugs and goes outside. The stage is now empty, the bar empty and silent. It is a little eerie.

The Yakuza eventually comes back and gives Shizuo a smile.

“I should probably introduce myself. My name is Shiki.”

“I’m Heiwajima Shizuo.”

“Pleased to meet you, Heiwajima-san. I should tell you, I’m going to be running this place from now on.”

-

Shizuo leaves the place that night in shock, before he can ask any questions.

Shiki did not mince his words; he will officially be the new owner within a few weeks. Though the bar mainly runs as usual, with no changes. Without Izaya, obviously. 

Shizuo wonders how the dancer is doing. He didn’t have the other man’s number. Izaya had once asked, sort of jokingly, and Shizuo had thought he was making fun of him and snapped. Things had been sour between them since.

It was useless asking anyone for his number, because they all knew he hated him. Shizuo hoped he would be OK. 

“Are you firing me?” he blurts when he next sees Shiki.

“No, I’m keeping all the staff,” the other man says cheerfully.

“Even though…?” he thinks of the man he would have destroyed if a group of them hadn’t pulled him off.

Shiki smiles at him and seems to understand. “Let me know if you ever want a side job. You’d make an excellent bodyguard.”

Shizuo is just getting settled behind the bar when one of the dancers comes up to him, a warning in his eyes.

“Izaya’s here,” he says quietly.

Shizuo's heart jumps at this. Was he better already?

He is fidgety all night. At a quiet point, he mutters to the other bartender that he has to run to the bathroom, and goes to the office area, what used to be a kitchen when the place used to be half restaurant.

His boss is there. Izaya is also there, sitting on one of the counters and swinging his legs. His arm is in a sling and almost half of his body is black with bruising. He freezes when he sees Shizuo.

“Are you OK?” Shizuo blurts.

Izaya blinks in surprise.

“Yes,” he says.

The owner doesn’t seem to be listening.

“Don’t bicker,” he says automatically, as he always says to them. “I’ve got too much on my mind.”

Izaya turns back him.

“How can you just give the place up? Are they forcing you?”

“Sort of,” he sighs. “But they’ve made me a hell of an offer. And I am getting old. They say I can’t look after the place properly. That I can’t control customers or look after my staff.”

“As if a Yakuza is going to care about the staff,” Izaya says with contempt.

“Watch it, he’s around here somewhere,” Shizuo cautions in a low voice.

“Well, he probably won’t be keeping us around anyway," Izaya says dismissively.

“He is, he told me he’s keeping all the staff.”

“Really?”

Someone comes in behind them then, and they fall silent. Shizuo realises that it is Shiki and Izaya’s first time face to face, as Izaya had been unconscious last time. Izaya starts to struggle off the counter to bow, but the older man holds up a hand to stop him.

“Please don’t trouble yourself. How are you feeling?”

“A lot better, thanks. I just came to…” he looks at the owner, the former owner, rather awkwardly.

“Of course.” Shiki then looks at Shizuo, who remembers rather sheepishly that he is supposed to be behind the bar. “Glad you’re feeling better,” he says to Izaya, gabbling slightly, and all but runs away.

-

The transition is smooth. For the most part, nothing changes. They are paid on time though, which is something the previous owner could be slack about.

Shiki comes in early one night and orders both himself and Shizuo a drink.

“Tell me, that guy who cut Izaya down, has he been in here before?”

“A couple of times,” Shizuo says cautiously. “But I don’t think he’ll be back.”

“Is there anyone else like that?”

Shizuo can think of at least a few, albeit none that had actually brought a gun in.

“Some. Sometimes some of them get rowdy with Izaya when he tries to go home, but he can take care of himself.”

Shiki shakes his head. “I don’t care if he’s as capable as a samurai, I don’t want that sort of behaviour going on."

Shizuo nods.

“If they come in again, I want them out at once," Shiki says. "Come and get me if you have any problems. Same goes for anyone else like that. Those people are more hassle than they’re worth.”

Shizuo nods again, more enthusiatically.

“It would make my life a hell of a lot easier.”

“I’m glad we’re agreed.”

They clink glasses.

“While I’m on the subject,” Shiki says. “I know I said I wouldn’t change anything, but is there anything you’d like to change? Anything we should do differently?”

Shizuo thinks for a minute.

“We probably order too much plum sake and hardly anyone buys it. Dry sake is more popular, and we run out of that a lot.”

“Who does the ordering?”

“I think there’s like an office girl, someone Izaya brought in. I can ask him.”

“Good,” he says. “Yes, anything else like that, just let me know.”

Shizuo wonders if he has misjudged the Yakuza.

-

Izaya comes to visit again one night when it’s quiet. This time he comes straight to the bar. Shiki is in a meeting at a back table, where he hasn’t moved for some time.

“So what is the deal with this Yakuza thing?” Izaya says with no preamble.

“Sshh,” Shizuo says, even though Shiki is across the room well out of earshot.

Izaya raises his eyebrows with contempt, and looks more like his old self despite the faded bruising.

“I’m not scared of these people, Shizu-chan. And I need to know what’s happening.”

“Not much is happening,” Shizuo says. “Everything’s the same. He pays us on time. He actually listened to a few ideas I had…” Shizuo trails off under the glint of Izaya’s eyes.

“Do you know what Yakuza bars in Ikebukuro do, Shizu-chan?”

“No,” Shizuo snaps. “Tell me, if you’re such an expert.”

“They’re brothels,” he says. “They’re going to whore us out.”

“I’m sure it’s not like that," Shizuo says uncomfortably. "He said he’s not going to change anything.”

“He would say that, wouldn’t he? I’m telling you, I know Yakuza guys and that’s what all their bars are for. Whores and gambling rings.”

“Well, you’ll just have to tell him you’re not doing that.”

“To an Awakusu-Kai executive? Are you kidding me?” Izaya shakes his head in annoyance. “This is such a pain. I’m going to have to move. And I was starting to really like it here.”

Shizuo looks up then and jumps. Izaya sees and turns around.

Shiki joins them with a smile on his face.

“Orihara-san. How are you?”

“Fine thanks, but still not quite better. How are you?”

“I’m fine thanks, trying to get to know the place. I was asking Shizuo the other day if we can do anything differently, make things better. Do you have any suggestions?”

Izaya looks away. It is the first time Shizuo has seen him look uncomfortable.

“Or if you have any questions or concerns,” Shiki urges. “Please. I don’t bite.”

Izaya glances at Shizuo as if for help.

“I suppose, I’m more interested in what you’ll be changing,” he says, almost a touch too cheekily, but Shiki lets it slide.

“I’m not changing anything, unless you have a specific suggestion that I agree with.”

Izaya just looks at him, unconvinced. Shiki looks back calmly.

“And us performers?” Izaya says eventually. “What about us?”

“What about you?”

Izaya looks agonised.

Shiki spreads his hands.

“You're going to have to be more specific. You want a pay rise? More hours? Less?”

“Are you going to whore us out?”

“What?" Shiki looks genuinely surprised. "No.”

“Most of the Yakuza bars I know are like that.”

“Yes, but this isn’t.”

Izaya seems a little thrown by the simplicity of this.

“But what if…” he says, struggling. “What if someone offered you a lot of money for one of us, someone important?”

“Then they would leave, and they wouldn’t come back,” Shiki says calmly. “Unless they asked you directly, and that’s a personal choice you have to make for yourself. Though I’d prefer if that sort of thing didn’t go on on my premises.”

Izaya stares at him. He almost looks impressed.

Shiki’s eyes narrow.

“Has someone given you trouble before?”

“Kind of, he says, falteringly. “Not here, but somewhere else. It was why I left.”

“Well, tell me if it happens. I was saying to your colleague before, I won’t stand for any of that.”

“...OK,” Izaya says, bested for once in his life.

“Good,” Shiki says, topping up his sake for him. “Is there anything else you’re worried about?”

-

Shizuo is setting up one night when Izaya comes in early. His bruises are completely gone now.

“I need to rehearse,” he says, in response to Shizuo’s look of surprise.

“Sure,” Shizuo says, and pretends to be looking for something in a cupboard to hide his embarrassment. He has never seen Izaya perform on his own before. It would be like getting his own private show. He washes and stacks glasses as if his life depended on it, keeping his eyes firmly away from the stage. Though he does see that Izaya has stripped down to a pair of shorts.

“Hey, Shizu-chan,” the dancer sings a little later. They don’t have long before opening time.

“What,” Shizuo says through his teeth. His back is turned to Izaya, facing the small sink.

“Can you come and watch me? This is a new routine, and I need to know how it looks.”

“...sure.” Shizuo puts down the glass with a slightly shaky hand and turns. He rests his hands on the bar, trying to look relaxed. “Go ahead.”

“Not there.” Izaya waves him forward impatiently. “You’re miles away. Come and sit at the front so you can see properly.”

Shizuo doesn’t want to tell him that he could see perfectly, that he always had, if anything the bar was slightly raised and gave him an even better view. But Shizuo comes obediently to the front and sits down. Izaya picks up a remote and suddenly he is in darkness, all but the stage lights gone. Izaya hits another button on the remote, and the familiar electric guitar comes to life over the speakers. Izaya tosses the remote aside.

Shizuo sucks in as Izaya starts. He feels as helpless as prey, unable to look away, hard in his pants. Slower performance than usual, painstakingly careful and revealing, where he would usually show off and throw himself upside down or in loops as hard and as fast as he could.

Time stops. The song finally comes to an end, and Izaya lowers himself down the silken ropes, nimble as a deer. He looks at Shizuo with a rope in either hand, slightly flushed, muscles alive, eyes shining mischievously.

“How was that?”

Shizuo looks at him helplessly.

Izaya leans forward slightly, balancing himself between the ropes.

“You don’t think it was too...slutty?”

He’s making fun of me, Shizuo realises. I’ll kill him.

Next thing Shizuo knows he is climbing up on the stage.

What am I doing, he thinks fuzzily. Oh, that’s right, I’m killing him.

He approaches the other man trembling with rage. 

Izaya is still standing between the ropes, smirking. He looks at Shizuo expectantly. 

Shizuo takes the smug face in his hands, and instead of crushing it he kisses it. There is a little swish of air as Izaya drops the ropes, and his arms come around Shizuo’s neck. He presses closer, a bare foot coming up to tease Shizuo’s shin. They kiss for a long, long time.

A small cough sends them stumbling apart.

Shiki is watching them in the dim light, eyebrows raised. He looks amused.

“Aren’t we opening soon?”

Shizuo jumps off the stage to the bar, and Izaya starts scrabbling for his clothes.

-

The bar is packed that night, Izaya’s first night back. It is the first time ever that people had been turned away from the door. They didn’t advertise, but anyone who came to this place knew about Izaya, and word got out that he was back. 

Izaya’s performance is new, but it is not the one he gave for Shizuo. Shizuo watches the other man with secret pride. He keeps a careful eye out as well, as he sees Shiki is as well, but no-one makes any trouble that night.

The performance ends, and even Izaya seems a little abashed by the roar of applause, bowing without his usual little smirk. He disappears, and as usual people come to the bar and talk about him as they wait for their drinks.

Shizuo will be kept busy for a while. He knows Izaya had a sort of dressing room upstairs, but he doesn’t think he will be around for long. 

The minute the last customer is out the door, and Shiki has left early for a meeting, he races up the stairs and knocks. Izaya opens the door so quickly that Shizuo is left knocking on thin air. And Izaya smirks at him as if he’d knew this would happen all along.

-

It is strange, seeing his lover on display like that in front of all those men. But it didn’t bother him as much as he thought it might, as he knows how uninterested Izaya is in any of the customer, that he sees them as little more than dogs with wallets. 

Also, Izaya now spends more time at the bar when he wasn’t on stage, chatting to Shizuo between customers.

One night, just before he needs to be on stage, Izaya leans across the bar and gives Shizuo a playful little kiss goodbye in front of anyone who happened to be looking.

“Hey,” Shizuo protests, more in shock than anything else. “Be careful. Some of these guys might beat me up.”

Izaya’s eyes widen with surprise and hurt. Then they narrow, and he is unmistakably pissed.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise that wasn’t allowed.”

He leaves before Shizuo can say anything. 

Shizuo catches the eye of a customer at the bar looking at him pityingly, and turns away in embarrassment. _I'm such a fucking idiot._

He watches Izaya’s performance that night with even more longing than usual. The dancer’s movements are somehow sharper than usual, missing their normal flow and ease, and Shizuo realises that he is still angry, that it is showing as clearly as a wildcat with its claws out. 

At one particular curl, Izaya misses the rope he’d been aiming for. There is a collective gasp, before Izaya snatches up a neighbouring one and saves himself. He tries to pull it off as deliberate, and it is hard to tell if the crowd are convinced. Shiki comes over looking concerned.

“Do you think he’s not feeling well?”

Shizuo shrugs helplessly, aching inside.

Izaya gets just as much applause at the end, and smiles sheepishly, apologetic. He gives a couple of extra bows and disappears. Shiki follows not long after, and Shizuo is left with orders and customers talking about what they would do to the other man if they could get him alone. Shizuo has to grit his teeth and remind himself that they are drunk, that they are just having fun.

Shiki returns then and gives Shizuo a cheerful clap on the shoulder.

“Izaya’s fine, it was just a slip. He seems quite annoyed with himself.”

Shizuo smiles weakly.

After they’ve all left, he runs to the dressing room as fast as he had that first night, but of course Izaya is not there. He does not answer his phone, either. Shizuo remembers how they had first pissed each other off over the phone number thing, how Izaya had not spoken to him for weeks. Izaya could be very stubborn.

Shizuo trudges back downstairs to clean up. The other bartender had to leave early, and it is almost 4am by the time he gets out into the morning air.

He is exhausted but does not go home. Instead, he trudges the streets and the malls looking for 24 hour stores, eventually finding one of the bigger supermarkets with a florist attached.

The florist is half asleep behind the counter. He blinks at finding a customer at this late hour, then looks sympathetic.

“What did you do?”

Shizuo does not knock when he gets to Izaya’s, thinking the other man might be asleep, but tucks the flowers outside his door and finally goes home to sleep himself.

-

He is back at the bar the next day, and has not heard anything from Izaya. He tells himself he shouldn’t be surprised, but still feels the disappointment in his shoulders.

Shiki comes to greet him.

“What’s up?” he says at once.

“Izaya and I had a fight.”

“Ah,” he says. “Well, I wouldn’t take it too hard . It's normal to fight. You can’t not fight..”

“It was my fault.”

Shiki shrugs lightly. “Sometimes it'll be his fault.”

Shizuo tries to be comforted by this.

“I have some news that may cheer you up,” Shiki says. “Your fellow barman is leaving.”

“Why would that cheer me up?” Shizuo says, surprised. He got on quite well with the other bar tender, though they never really had time to talk.

“Let me rephrase,” Shiki chuckles. “We need a new bartender, and I need you to be in charge of that. So I’m making you Bar Manager. Congratulations. We’ll talk about your salary later.”

Shizuo is left staring after him in amazement. He reaches automatically for his phone to text Izaya, before remembering with a little stab that they were fighting. He tries to not to think about it. 

They've been open for about an hour when Izaya himself comes up to the bar. 

“Congratulations,” he says, smile too warm to be sarcastic.

“...thank you,” Shizuo says, when he's recovered enough to speak. “Listen, I’m sorry about -”

“Oh, forget it. It’s nothing.”

He heads off for his dressing room before Shizuo can speak again.

It is a Tuesday night, and they shut up early when the last of the customers leave. He and Shiki sign a new contract. Izaya has waited this time, and he comes to join them at the bar. Shizuo puts an arm around him gratefully

This is the longest job he’s had, and the longest relationship he’d been in. Maybe things were finally looking up.

"I'm so happy," he says to Shiki when Izaya is in the bathroom. He is a little drunk. "I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life, but now I'm - I think I'm getting somewhere."

“How about opening your own bar someday?” Shiki says. “You must know the business like the back of your hand by now.”

Yes, he realises. And for the first time in his life he was able to save up. He could get some capital together, maybe even sooner than he thinks.

“Izaya won’t stick around forever either.” Shizuo feels a little stab of hurt, before he realises Shiki is talking about the bar, the work, and not him. “I don’t know how serious you both are, but it might be something to think about.”

“Izaya’s so smart. I don’t know why he’s here now.” He pauses. “I don’t know why he’s with me.”

“Izaya’s not as ruthless as he makes out. I’ve always thought he seems a bit lost.” Shiki shrugs at Shizuo’s look of surprise. “I’m not criticising him. I like him a lot. I’m just saying, don't let him walk all over you."

Izaya returns then. He is also slightly drunk, and gives Shizuo a big hug.

"Congratulations again, Bar Manager-chan."

Shiki smiles and leaves them alone. 

"I got you a present," Izaya goes on.

"Oh?"

Izaya starts digging around in his jeans pocket. He is tipsy and uncoordinated, so it takes him a while.

"Is your present a 100 yen note, Izaya?" Shizuo chuckles. "I can't think what else could be in your pocket."

"Shut up." He finally pulls something out and gives it to Shizuo with obvious pride. "There."

It is so dark that it takes Shizuo a moment to recognise the tiny metal object he'd been given.

"A key?"

"Yes." Izaya leans against him. "If you want it."

"You're not drunk are you? You didn't just pull this off your keychain?"

Izaya starts laughing.

"It's a brand new key, Shizu-chan, look at it. But if you don't want it I'll take it back." He makes a clumsy grab at it, and Shizuo holds it easily out of his reach.

"Thank you, Izaya. Let me come over tonight so I can play with it."

And he hugs him tight.

**Author's Note:**

> After Dark - Tito and Tarantula <3


End file.
